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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Country-Style Stir Fry

Hello, friends! My blog has been rather quiet these past several weeks. The summer months are brutal on this mom-of-three. Lots of activities ... swimming, dance, piano, softball, tee-ball, VBS, camp, sleepovers, out-of-town trips, etc. ... but I wouldn't have it any other way. My kids love to be kept busy!

Regardless of how busy we get, I still manage to get dinner on the table in the evening. This meal was well-received in my house. I used my kids' favorite veggies -- broccoli and carrots -- but you can easily adjust to whatever your family prefers. I used chicken, but slices of pork or beef would both work. Or you could go vegetarian by leaving the meat out all together and using veggie broth. Maybe add a can of kidney beans. Yum!

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add chicken to the pan and sprinkle with the salt. Stir fry the chicken until the meat is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes – the amount of time will depend on how thinly the chicken is sliced. Using a slotted spoon, remove chicken from the pan, cover with foil to keep it warm and set aside. Return pan to the stove top.

Add the broccoli, carrots, onion, garlic, chicken stock, lemon juice and parsley to the pan. Stir together and simmer the contents of the pan until the vegetables are crisp tender, about 6-7 minutes. Add more stock or water to the pan, if the mixture becomes too dry or you would like the finished product to have more sauce.

In a small bowl, stir together the corn starch and water. (The amount you use will depend on how thick you like your sauce. A thinner sauce will only need 1 tsp. of corn starch.) Stir the mixture into the pan. The liquids in the pan will tighten up into a nice sauce.

Add the chicken back to the pan. Serve the stir fry over the hot cooked rice.

Tip: Make sure to THINLY slice the carrots. If you cut them too thickly, it will take way too long for the carrots to cook and the broccoli will be way overcooked. (To make the slicing easier, I use this mandolin slicer. It makes cutting veggies into uniform little slices so quick and easy!) If you have trouble cutting the carrots thinly, I would recommend grating the carrots.